A married soldier has been arrested for shooting dead his beautiful teenage former lover out of ‘revenge’ for her ending their three-month-long affair.
Sergeant Edisandro de Jesus da Costa, 32, handed himself in to an army headquarters in the city of Belem in the Brazilian state of Para on Monday, 22nd November, accompanied by his lawyer and wife.
He is accused of shooting his pretty former lover Edrica Moreira Lopes da Silva, aged just 19, in Belem on the night of Thursday, 11th November. She died in hospital four days later.
The suspect was on annual leave at the time of the alleged crime. Local media also reported that the victim had taken out a restraining order on him in the wake of their breakup.
According to the victim’s family, he had been physically violent towards the victim on previous occasions, as reported in the news portal G1.
Her relatives believe she was killed in ‘revenge’ for the couple’s breakup around a month ago. Their affair had only reportedly lasted for three months.
The victim was with a female friend when she was shot on the street as she returned home from a food joint. The shots were fired by a man who got out of a vehicle and announced a robbery.
Edrica took at least three bullets and her friend one. Both were hospitalised, and the friend has since been discharged.
Edrica was still conscious when she was taken to hospital, and she told her sister that it was her former lover who had fired the shots, as reported in the news portal UOL.
The suspect fled after committing the alleged crime, and it was not reported whether he stole anything from the women.
The vehicle used in the alleged crime was located in the city of Abaetetuba with the alleged murder weapon inside on the same day as the suspect’s surrender to the authorities.
According to police chief Francisco Adriano Costa, another person was driving the vehicle at the time of the alleged crime. As of Tuesday, 23rd November, his identity had not been ascertained.
The suspect is being held in an army prison unit while the Civil Police (Brazil’s investigative police force) of Para investigate him for the crime of femicide.
He will also be investigated for fraud, as the police have since suspected him of belonging to a gang of fraudsters operating in Para. Others in the gang have reportedly been identified.
